As our frequent readers know, we purchased baby chicks in April. We wanted to have our own home grown fresh eggs.
Those little fluff balls have grown tremendously since then. The solid black ones are Austrolorps – a heavy Australian breed of Orpingtons. The black and white ones are Barred Rocks.
They enjoy roaming around in their outside pen during the day. They are very happy when they get treats tossed over the fence.
One of their favorites is lettuce. I try to cut some fresh greens for them every day.
I had heard of chickens taking “dust baths” but never seen one. They seem to enjoy digging out a little hole in the soft dirt and rolling around.
At night they fight for the top rung on the roost. They definitely have their own “pecking order” and woe to the one who is in the wrong place.
The nest boxes are up on the walls opposite the roost.
I ordered a few more chicks than I thought we really needed – I figured we would probably lose a few along the way. So far, only one. She flew the coop – literally. Molly and Grizzly were right there to play with her. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t survive the game of tug-o-war.
Our exotic chick, Bernadette, is still unique.
She is some type of Cochin – a rare, old breed of fowl from the Orient. She has feathers all the way down her legs.
She did go through an awkward stage as her feathers were coming in, but now she is a fully feathered adult. She is much larger than the others.
Today, our first egg! A little small – which according to the chicken book is normal for new layers.
If they all start laying consistently, we may be overrun with eggs. We’ve had a few neighbors ask if we had any extra eggs to sell, so hopefully it will all balance out.
They all will be laying and you will be overrun with eggs.Your flock is very lovely. I am impressed, that you only lost one so far. We, unfortunatley lost some 5 hens and 1 rooster to a golden eagle. It took us a while to figure out what was transporting them away. We suspected a dog or a coyote for a whilem since Our chickens are free ranging during the day. Luckily, the surviving rooster keeps the surviving ladies close to the barn and they are surviving.
You’re probably right about the eggs. Who knew they would almost all survive?
We are kind of surprised we haven’t lost more. We’ve heard that eagles – and other raptors – will carry the squawking chicken away. When these girls see any kind of soaring bird overhead they run back into the coop. We will see what eagle season brings – we may lose a few then?
The birds look very health! I’m sorry, but Bernadette is an awkward chicken. There is no way around that. What I want to know is if she will taste any different than the other chickens
Nick that is SO Rude! Bernadette is EXOTIC, not awkward, ugly, wierd or any of the other unkind things you have said about her. To further educate you on exotic chickens see the new post just for you.